The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the
Musikverein
The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.
The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...
in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, Austria. Its members are selected from the orchestra of the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
. Selection involves a lengthy process, with each musician demonstrating their capability for a minimum of three years' performance for the opera and ballet. After this probationary period, the musician may request an application for a position in the orchestra from the Vienna Philharmonic's board.
History
Precursors and formation
Until the 1830s, orchestral performance in Vienna was done by ''ad hoc'' orchestras, consisting of professional and (often) amateur musicians brought together for specific performances. In 1833,
Franz Lachner
Franz Paul Lachner (2 April 1803 – 20 January 1890) was a German composer and conductor.
Biography
Lachner was born in Rain am Lech to a musical family (his brothers Ignaz, Theodor and Vinzenz also became musicians). He studied music with Si ...
formed the forerunner of the Vienna Philharmonic, the – an orchestra of professional musicians from the Vienna Court Opera (''Wiener Hofoper'', now the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
); it gave four concerts, each including a
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
symphony.
Mosco Carner
Mosco Carner (born Mosco Cohen) (15 November 1904 – 3 August 1985) was an Austrian-born British musicologist, conductor and critic. He wrote on a wide range of music subjects, but was particularly known for his studies on the life and works of ...
, "Vienna," section 5, iv (c), in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', 1980, volume 19, p. 730 The Vienna Philharmonic itself arose nine years later, in 1842, hatched by a group who met regularly at the inn 'Zum Amor', including the poet
Nikolaus Lenau
Nikolaus Lenau was the pen name of Nikolaus Franz Niembsch Edler von Strehlenau (13 August 1802 – 22 August 1850), a German-language Austrian poet.
Biography
He was born at Csatád (Schadat), Kingdom of Hungary, now Lenauheim, Banat, then p ...
, newspaper editor
August Schmidt August Schmidt may refer to:
* August Schmidt (Wehrmacht) (1892–1972), German general
* August Schmidt (Luftwaffe)
August Schmidt (1 February 1883 – 23 November 1955) was a highly decorated General der Flakartillerie in the Luftwaffe during ...
, critic Alfred Becker, violinist Karlz Holz, Count Laurecin, and composer
Otto Nicolai
Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (9 June 1810 – 11 May 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and one of the founders of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy ''The Merry Wives of Wi ...
who was also the principal conductor of a standing orchestra at a Viennese theater.
Mosco Carner
Mosco Carner (born Mosco Cohen) (15 November 1904 – 3 August 1985) was an Austrian-born British musicologist, conductor and critic. He wrote on a wide range of music subjects, but was particularly known for his studies on the life and works of ...
wrote in ''
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'' that "Nicolai was the least enthusiastic about the idea, and had to be persuaded by the others; he conducted the first
oncerton 28 March 1842."
The orchestra was fully independent, consisted of members of the ''Hofoper'' orchestra, and made all of its decisions by a democratic vote of its members; it had its day-to-day management handled by a democratically elected body, the administrative committee.
Nicolai and the orchestra gave only 11 concerts in the ensuing five years, and when Nicolai left Vienna in 1847, the orchestra nearly folded (''New Grove'' notes the disruption caused by the
Revolution of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...
as a hindrance). Between 1854 and 1857,
Karl Eckert
Karl Anton Florian Eckert (17 December 1820 – 14 October 1879) was a German conductor and composer.
Life
Eckert was born in Berlin. By the age of five, had already proved himself as a musical child prodigy. After coming to the attention of Si ...
– the first permanent conductor of the Vienna Court Opera (''Wiener Hofoper'')– led the (associated) Vienna Philharmonic in a few concerts. In 1857, Eckert was made Director of the ''Hofoper'' – the first musician to have been given the post; in 1860, he conducted four subscription concerts of the Vienna Philharmonic. Since that time,
writes Vienna Philharmonic violinist and president
Clemens Hellsberg
Clemens Hellsberg (born 28 March 1952) is an Austrian violinist and from 1997 to 2014 was director of the Wiener Philharmoniker.
Life
Born in Linz, after attending the Schottengymnasium in Vienna, Hellsberg studied musicology and ancient hist ...
, "the 'Philharmonic Concerts' have been staged without interruption."
The era of subscription conductors: 1860–1933
In 1860, the orchestra elected
Otto Dessoff
Felix Otto Dessoff (14 January 1835 – 28 October 1892) was a German conductor and composer.
Biography
Dessoff was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig; his father was a cloth merchant. His musical talent was recognized by Franz Liszt, who then ...
to be the permanent conductor. According to
Max Kalbeck
Max Kalbeck (January 4, 1850May 4, 1921) was a German writer, critic and translator. He became one of the most influential critics in Austria and was bitterly opposed to the music of Richard Wagner, Anton Bruckner and Hugo Wolf.
Early life
Ka ...
, the Vienna-based music critic, newspaper editor, and biographer, the fame and excellence of the Vienna Philharmonic resulted from Dessoff's "energy and sense of purpose." Clemens Hellsberg gives specifics, writing that during the Dessoff years, the Vienna Philharmonic's "repertoire was consistently enlarged, important organizational principles (music archives, rules of procedure) were introduced and the orchestra moved to its third new home
n 1870
N, or n, is the fourteenth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet# ...
the newly built Goldener Saal in the
Musikverein
The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.
The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...
building in Vienna
n which it still performs
N, or n, is the fourteenth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''.
History
...
which has proved to be the ideal venue, with its acoustical characteristics influencing the orchestra's style and sound." After fifteen years, in 1875, Dessoff was "pushed out of his position in Vienna through intrigue", and he left Vienna to become conductor (''Hofkapellmeister'') of the
Badische Staatskapelle
The Badische Staatskapelle is a symphony orchestra based in Karlsruhe. The orchestra is affiliated with the Badisches Staatstheater (Baden State Theatre). The historical roots of the orchestra date back to 1662. The precursor ensemble was the '' ...
in
Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...
, Germany. In Karlsruhe the next year, he fulfilled the request of his friend
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
[Styra Avins and Josef Eisinger, ''Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters'', Oxford University Press, 1997, p. 778, ] to conduct the first performance of his
Symphony no. 1; in 1873, Brahms had conducted the premiere of his
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
The ''Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn'' (german: Variationen über ein Thema von Jos. Haydn), now also called the ''Saint Anthony Variations'', is a work in the form of a theme and variations, composed by Johannes Brahms in the summer of 187 ...
with Dessoff's Vienna Philharmonic.
In 1875, the orchestra chose
Hans Richter to take Dessoff's place as subscription conductor. He remained until 1898, except for the season 1882/1883, when he was in dispute with the orchestral committee (during this hiatus,
Wilhelm Jahn
Wilhelm Jahn (24 November 1835 in Dvorce (Bruntál District), Dvorce – 21 April 1900 in Vienna) was an Austrians, Austrian conducting, conductor.
Life
Jahn served as director of the Vienna State Opera, Vienna Court Opera from 1880 to 1897 and ...
of the
Vienna Court Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Si ...
served as subscription conductor). Richter led the VPO in the world premieres of Brahms's
Second Symphony (in 1877), ''
Tragic Overture
The ''Tragic Overture'' (german: Tragische Ouvertüre, link=no), Op. 81, is a concert overture for orchestra written by Johannes Brahms during the summer of 1880. It premiered, under Hans Richter, on 26 December 1880 in Vienna. Most perfo ...
'' (in 1880), and
Symphony no. 3 (in 1883), the
Violin Concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin (occasionally, two or more violins) and instrumental ensemble (customarily orchestra). Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up thro ...
of
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
(in 1881), and in 1892 the
8th symphony of
Anton Bruckner
Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...
. It was Richter who in 1881 appointed
Arnold Rosé
Arnold Josef Rosé (born ''Rosenblum''; 24 October 1863 – 25 August 1946) was a Romanian-born Austrian Jewish violinist. He was leader of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for over half a century. He worked closely with Brahms. Gustav Mahler was ...
as concertmaster, who was to become
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
's brother-in-law and was concertmaster until the
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
in 1938. In order to be eligible for a pension, Richter intended to remain in his position for 25 years (to 1900), and he might have done so, given that the orchestra unanimously re-elected him in May 1898. But he resigned on 22 September, citing health reasons, although biographer Christopher Fifield argues that the real reasons were that he wanted to tour, and that "he was uneasy as
claque
A claque is an organized body of professional applauders in French theatres and opera houses. Members of a claque are called claqueurs.
History
Hiring people to applaud dramatic performances was common in classical times. For example, when th ...
s in the audience formed in favour of Gustav Mahler" (who was triumphing as director of the ''Hofoper'').
[Fifield, ''True Artist and True Friend,'' p. 268] Richter recommended Mahler or
Ferdinand Löwe
Ferdinand Löwe (19 February 1865 – 6 January 1925) was an Austrian conductor.
Biography
Löwe was born in Vienna, Austria where along with Munich, Germany his career was primarily centered. From 1896 Löwe conducted the Kaim Orchestra, tod ...
to the orchestra as his replacement.
In 1898, on 24 September, the orchestra elected
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
. (On 30 May 1899, pro-Mahler and pro-Richter factions had a "heated committee meeting"; matters were finally resolved in August when Richter wrote to his supporters "gently refusing their offer".) Under Mahler's baton, the Vienna Philharmonic played abroad for the first time at the 1900 Paris
World Exposition
A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...
. While Mahler had strong supporters in the orchestra, he faced dissension from other orchestral members (an unreconstructed pro-Richter faction plus an anti-Semitic one, according to Jens Malte Fischer), criticism of his re-touchings of Beethoven, and arguments with the orchestra and over new policies he imposed; ultimately, "his working relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic continued to be fueled by resentment and broke down completely in November 1900".
[Jens Malte Fischer, ''Gustav Mahler'', p. 317] He resigned on 1 April 1901, citing health concerns as a pretext,
like Richter, but continuing to conduct actively elsewhere (he remained director of the associated ''Hofoper'' until 1907).
In 1901,
Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.
Joseph Heinrich Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (9 April 1855 – 26 April 1907), also known as Pepi Hellmesberger, was an Austrian composer, violinist and Conducting, conductor.
Biography
Hellmesberger was born in Vienna and was the son of violinis ...
briefly took his place; he remained only until 1903.
![Ferdinand Schmutzer Wiener Philharmoniker](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Ferdinand_Schmutzer_Wiener_Philharmoniker.jpg)
In 1908, after an interval with no official subscription conductor, the orchestra elected
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg (2 June 1863 – 7 May 1942) was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.
Life and career
Weingartner was born in Zara, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary (now Zadar, Croatia), to Austrian parents. T ...
to the post; he was to remain in it until 1927, and conducted at least 432 concerts with them in total, including the VPO's first tour of South America in 1922. Weingartner's interpretive stance was opposite to Mahler's (Mahler employed marked tempo fluctuations in Beethoven, whereas Weingartner decried "tempo rubato conductors"); but like Mahler, he considered himself primarily a composer, and between 1910 and 1923 led the orchestra in at least one piece of his own music per season.
[Holden, p. 109] He was most renowned for his Beethoven – he programmed at least two symphonies per season, and complete cycles in 1916/17 and 1926/27.
It was Weingartner who led the orchestra's first concert devoted to entirely to the music of
Johann Strauss, Jr. (for the composer's centennial), on 25 October 1925.
In 1927, when Weingartner resigned, the orchestra elected
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
. He resigned at the end of the 1929/30 season because of increased professional demands in Berlin.
In 1930, the orchestra chose
Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, the ...
for the position. At the
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amad ...
in the summers of 1929–33 he led the orchestra in an annual Strauss waltz concert, the forerunners of the
New Year's Day concerts he was later to institute.
Krauss left in 1933 to become director of the
Berlin State Opera
The (), also known as the Berlin State Opera (german: Staatsoper Berlin), is a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic center of Berlin, Germany. The opera house was built by order of Prussian king Frederick the Great from ...
(after
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor, known for his interpretations of the classics and as an advocate of new music.
Kleiber was born in Vienna, and after studying at the Prague Conservato ...
resigned that position to protest Nazi rule).
1933 through 1945
Since 1933, the orchestra has had no single subscription conductor, but according to ''New Grove'' (vol. 19, p. 723), "between 1933 and 1938,
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...
and
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
shared the Philharmonic concerts between them, and during the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
period Furtwängler was the permanent conductor"; by contrast, the Vienna Philharmonic's website history says, "Furtwängler was in actuality the main conductor of the orchestra from 1933 to 1945, and again from 1947 to 1954." In support of ''New Grove''s assertion of Walter's role, it might be noted that he made Vienna his home from 1933 until 1938 (after being driven from Germany by the Third Reich), was Artistic Director of the
Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
from 1936 until 1938, and conducted the Vienna Philharmonic frequently, making a number of major recordings with the orchestra (including
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''
Die Walküre
(; ''The Valkyrie''), WWV 86B, is the second of the four music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was performed, as a single opera, at the National Theatre Munich on ...
'' act 1 and parts of act 2, the first recordings of Mahler's ''
Das Lied von der Erde
''Das Lied von der Erde'' ("The Song of the Earth") is an orchestral song cycle for two voices and orchestra written by Gustav Mahler between 1908 and 1909. Described as a symphony when published, it comprises six songs for two singers who alte ...
'' and of his
Symphony No. 9, and numerous symphonic recordings) and taking the orchestra on tour to England and France in 1935. In support of the VPO website, Otto Strasser (who played in the orchestra from 1922 until 1967 and was the VPO chairman who procured Furtwängler's wartime services) said, Furtwängler "influenced us so much that we became the true 'Furtwängler orchestra'."
Other conductors who worked with the orchestra in the mid-1930s before the
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
included
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orch ...
, Weingartner,
Hans Knappertsbusch
Hans Knappertsbusch (12 March 1888 – 25 October 1965) was a German conductor, best known for his performances of the music of Wagner, Bruckner and Richard Strauss.
Knappertsbusch followed the traditional route for an aspiring conductor in Germ ...
,
Otto Klemperer
Otto Nossan Klemperer (14 May 18856 July 1973) was a 20th-century conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the US, Hungary and finally Britain. His early career was in opera houses, but he was later better known as a concer ...
,
Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...
,
Victor de Sabata
Victor de Sabata (10 April 1892 – 11 December 1967) was an Italian conductor and composer. He is widely recognized as one of the most distinguished operatic conductors of the twentieth century, especially for his Verdi, Puccini and Wagner.
De ...
and
George Szell
George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Szél, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor and composer. He is widely considered one of the twentieth century's greatest condu ...
. Walter conducted the last concert before the Anschluss, on 20 February 1938, featuring the world premiere of
Egon Wellesz
Egon Joseph Wellesz CBE (21 October 1885 – 9 November 1974) was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.
Early life and education in Vienna
Egon Joseph Wellesz was ...
's ''Prosperos Beschwörungen'' and Anton Bruckner's
Symphony No. 4.
After the Anschluss and during World War II the roster included Furtwängler, Krauss, Knappertsbusch,
Willem Mengelberg
Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest s ...
, and
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss.
Life and career
Education
Karl Böhm was born in Graz. T ...
. The orchestra's history during this period has been a topic of ongoing discussion and research, including a large amount commissioned by the orchestra (see below, "
#Period under National Socialism").
Post-World War II era to present
In 1946, when these conductors were undergoing
denazification
Denazification (german: link=yes, Entnazifizierung) was an Allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary, and politics of the Nazi ideology following the Second World War. It was carried out by remov ...
– successfully in the case of Furtwängler, unsuccessfully in the case of Mengelberg – the orchestra was led primarily by conductors untainted by Nazi association, including
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
,
Erich Leinsdorf
Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...
,
Volkmar Andreae
Volkmar Andreae (5 July 1879 – 18 June 1962) was a Swiss conductor and composer.
Life and career
Andreae was born in Bern. He received piano instruction as a child and his first lessons in composition with Karl Munzinger. From 1897 to 1900, ...
,
Paul Paray
Paul Marie-Adolphe Charles Paray () (24 May 1886 – 10 October 1979) was a French conductor, organist and composer. He was the resident conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1952 until 1963.
Early life and education
Paul Paray was ...
, and
Charles Munch. An exception was
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
, who made his debut with the orchestra with two concerts in January, but was unable to conduct a third scheduled concert when occupying authorities required him to undergo denazification (his tribunal in Vienna was in February, 1947). After clearance, he resumed conducting in late 1947 and developed a significant association with the orchestra (more below).
In 1947, Bruno Walter reunited with the orchestra as conductor when it appeared at the first
Edinburgh Festival
__NOTOC__
This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland.
The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...
. They performed a single work, Mahler's song cycle ''
Das Lied von der Erde
''Das Lied von der Erde'' ("The Song of the Earth") is an orchestral song cycle for two voices and orchestra written by Gustav Mahler between 1908 and 1909. Described as a symphony when published, it comprises six songs for two singers who alte ...
''.
In the postwar era, dozens of the world's best-known conductors have led the orchestra. Among them were not only Walter, Furtwängler, Knappertsbusch, Krauss, Szell, Klemperer, and Krips, but also
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli ( Giovanni Battista Barbirolli; 2 December 189929 July 1970) was a British conductor and cellist. He is remembered above all as conductor of the Hallé Orchestra in Manchester, which he helped save from dissolution in 194 ...
,
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Maria Giulini (; 9 May 1914 – 14 June 2005) was an Italian conductor.
From the age of five, when he began to play the violin, Giulini's musical education was expanded when he began to study at Italy's foremost conservatory, the Conserva ...
,
Erich Kleiber
Erich Kleiber (5 August 1890 – 27 January 1956) was an Austrian, later Argentine, conductor, known for his interpretations of the classics and as an advocate of new music.
Kleiber was born in Vienna, and after studying at the Prague Conservato ...
,
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine (; June 23, 1943 – March 9, 2021) was an American conductor and pianist. He was music director of the Metropolitan Opera from 1976 to 2016. He was terminated from all his positions and affiliations with the Met on March 1 ...
,
Zubin Mehta
Zubin Mehta (born 29 April 1936) is an Indian conductor of Western classical music. He is music director emeritus of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) and conductor emeritus of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
Mehta's father was the foun ...
,
Fritz Reiner
Frederick Martin "Fritz" Reiner (December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was a prominent conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose t ...
,
Georg Solti
Sir Georg Solti ( , ; born György Stern; 21 October 1912 – 5 September 1997) was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt and London, and as a long-servin ...
,
Claudio Abbado
Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...
,
Riccardo Muti
Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...
,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music ...
,
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel (, March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in th ...
,
Mariss Jansons
Mariss Ivars Georgs Jansons (14 January 1943 – 1 December 2019) was a Latvian conductor best known for his interpretations of Mahler, Strauss and Russian composers such as Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich. During his lifetime he was ...
,
Daniel Barenboim
Daniel Barenboim (; in he, דניאל בארנבוים, born 15 November 1942) is an Argentine-born classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin. He has been since 1992 General Music Director of the Berlin State Opera and "Staatskapellmeist ...
,
Gustavo Dudamel
Gustavo Adolfo Dudamel Ramírez (born 26 January 1981) is a Venezuelan conductor and violinist who is the music director of the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Paris Opera.
Early life
Dudamel was bor ...
,
Roberto Carnevale
Roberto Carnevale (born 15 June 1966) is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.
Biography and career
Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended th ...
,
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (russian: Вале́рий Абиса́лович Ге́ргиев, ; os, Гергиты Абисалы фырт Валери, Gergity Abisaly fyrt Valeri; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conductor and opera company d ...
and
Franz Welser-Möst
Franz Leopold Maria Möst (born 16 August 1960), known professionally as Franz Welser-Möst, is an Austrian conductor. He is currently music director of the Cleveland Orchestra.
Biography
Franz Leopold Maria Möst was born in Linz, Austria, ...
. The orchestra made their first US tour in 1956 under the batons of
Carl Schuricht
Carl Adolph Schuricht (; 3 July 18807 January 1967) was a German conductor.
Life and career
Schuricht was born in Danzig (Gdańsk), German Empire; his father's family had been respected organ-builders. His mother, Amanda Wusinowska, a widow soo ...
and
André Cluytens
André Cluytens (, ; born Augustin Zulma Alphonse Cluytens; 26 March 19053 June 1967)Baeck E. ''André Cluytens: Itinéraire d’un chef d’orchestre.'' Editions Mardaga, Wavre, 2009. was a Belgian-born French conductor who was active in the con ...
. Three conductors were given honorific titles by the orchestra in the later 20th century: Karajan and
Karl Böhm
Karl August Leopold Böhm (28 August 1894 – 14 August 1981) was an Austrian conductor. He was best known for his performances of the music of Mozart, Wagner, and Richard Strauss.
Life and career
Education
Karl Böhm was born in Graz. T ...
, who were made Honorary Conductors, and
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...
, who was made an Honorary Member of the orchestra.
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
, who had conducted the orchestra often, was made an Honorary Member in 2007. Another significant relationship was with the famously reclusive conductor
Carlos Kleiber
Carlos Luis Bonifacio Kleiber (3 July 1930 – 13 July 2004) was an Austrian conductor who is widely regarded as among the greatest conductors of all time.
Early life
Kleiber was born as Karl Ludwig Bonifacius Kleiber in Berlin in 1930, the ...
, who appeared with the orchestra first in 1974 and last in 1994, his longest association with any ensemble, even if it included only 30 appearances; Clemens Hellsberg wrote of the "contrast between those dry numbers and the defining experience which each encounter with this brilliant interpreter represented."
Finally,
István Kertész' gramophone recordings with the Vienna Philharmonic during the 1960s and the 1970s represent a highlight in the orchestra's history.
On 7 May 2000, the orchestra performed Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony at the site of the concentration camp at
Mauthausen
Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with nearly 100 further subcamps located throughout Austria and southern German ...
, Austria, in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of its liberation.
Simon Rattle
Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British-German conductor. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rattle was principal ...
conducted, and soloists were
Ruth Ziesak
Ruth Ziesak (born 9 February 1963) is a German soprano in opera and concert.
Career
Ruth Ziesak studied voice at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts with Elsa Cavelti and Christoph Prégardien. She has been a member of the Mu ...
,
Angelika Kirchschlager
Angelika Kirchschlager (born 24 November 1965, Salzburg) is an Austrian mezzo-soprano opera and lieder singer.
Career
Kirchschlager began her musical training at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, where she studied percussion and piano. In 1984, she w ...
,
Vinson Cole
Vinson Cole (born November 21, 1950) is an American operatic tenor.
Early life
A native of Kansas City, the tenor studied at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City; the Philadelphia Musical Academy; and at th ...
, and
Thomas Quasthoff
Thomas Quasthoff (born 9 November 1959) is a German bass-baritone. Quasthoff has a range of musical interest from Bach cantatas, to lieder, and solo jazz improvisations. Born with severe birth defects caused by thalidomide, Quasthoff is , and has ...
; all artists and the orchestra performed without fee and without applause at the end.
James R. Oestreich
James Ruben Oestreich (born 1943) is a classical music critic for ''The New York Times'', where he has written about music since 1989. He grew up in Wisconsin.
Career
Oestreich has held earlier posts as music critic at ''American Record Guide'' ...
"Arts Abroad: Dissonance In the Shadow Of Death; Beethoven and Kaddish Echo Through a Nazi Camp Site"
May 2000, ''The New York Times'', 9 May 2000 The symphony was preceded by recitation of the
Kaddish
Kaddish or Qaddish or Qadish ( arc, קדיש "holy") is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy, different version ...
, the prayer of mourning, by Paul Chaim Eisenberg, the
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi ( he, רב ראשי ''Rav Rashi'') is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a ...
of Austria, and the funeral prayer
El male rachamim "El Malei Rachamim" (Hebrew: אֵל מָלֵא רַחֲמִים, lit. "God full of Mercy" or "Merciful God"), is a Jewish prayer for the soul of a person who has died, usually recited at the graveside during the burial service and at memorial servi ...
sung by
Shmuel Barzilai
Shmuel Barzilai (born 3 June 1957) is an Israeli cantor. He is the chief cantor of the Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien in Vienna.
Biography
Shmuel Barzilai was born in Jerusalem. He is a son of Shlomo Barzilai, also a cantor. Barzilai has a l ...
, the chief cantor of the
Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien
The Jewish Community of Vienna (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien or IKG) is the body that represents Vienna's Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish community. Today, the IKG has around 10 000 members. Throughout history, it has represented almost all ...
(Viennese Israelite Community), accompanied by members of the orchestra and the
Wiener Singverein
The Vienna Singverein (Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien) is the concert choir of the Vienna Musikverein with around 230 members. It is regularly requested by top orchestras and conductors for large and varied projects.
Histo ...
; the orchestral arrangement was by Erich Schagerl, a violinist in the orchestra.
In 2005 the orchestra was named Goodwill Ambassador of the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...
. In 2013, Clemens Hellsberg received the Marietta and Friedrich Torberg Medal from the
Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien
The Jewish Community of Vienna (Israelitische Kultusgemeinde Wien or IKG) is the body that represents Vienna's Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish community. Today, the IKG has around 10 000 members. Throughout history, it has represented almost all ...
(Viennese Israelite Community).
Each
New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Wh ...
since 1 January 1941, the VPO has sponsored the
Vienna New Year's Concert
The Vienna New Year's Concert () is an annual concert of classical music performed by the Vienna Philharmonic on the morning of New Year's Day in Vienna, Austria. The concert occurs at the Musikverein at 11:15. The orchestra performs the same c ...
s, dedicated to the music of the Strauss family composers, and particularly that of
Johann Strauss II
Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ov ...
; the first such concert was given on 31 December 1939 by
Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, the ...
(see below, "
#Period under National Socialism"), and led subsequent concerts on New Year's Day from 1941 until 1945. The postwar series of concerts was inaugurated in 1946 by
Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
. They were led by Krauss, then by concertmaster
Willi Boskovsky
Willibald Karl Boskovsky (16 June 1909 – 21 April 1991) was an Austrian violinist and conductor, best known as the long-standing conductor of the Vienna New Year's Concert from 1955 to 1979.
Biography
Boskovsky was born in Vienna, and joined the ...
from 1955 to 1979, and since 1980 have been led by a variety of leading conductors invited by the orchestra.
Critical reputation and popularity
![Taiwan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Taiwan.ntch.vpo.2005-12.altonthompson.jpg)
In 2006, the Vienna Philharmonic was chosen as Europe's finest orchestra in a survey of seven leading trade publications, two radio stations and a daily newspaper. In 2008, an international jury of music critics polled by the British ''
Gramophone
A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
'' magazine ranked it third in the world (after the
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra ( nl, Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest, ) is a Dutch symphony orchestra, based at the Amsterdam Royal Concertgebouw (concert hall). Considered one of the world's leading orchestras, Queen Beatrix conferred the "R ...
and
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
).
Subscription ticket demand for the Vienna Philharmonic at their home,
Musikverein
The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.
The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...
, is currently listed on the orchestra's website as being subject to a waiting list—six years for weekday concert subscriptions, and thirteen years for weekend subscriptions. Casual tickets however, are available in small numbers and can be bought via links from the official website, to various ticket resellers.
![Wiener Philharmoniker coin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Wiener_Philharmoniker_coin.jpg)
The orchestra has been the motive of one of the world's most famous bullion coins:
the Vienna Philharmonic coin. The coin is struck in pure gold, 999.9 fine (24 carats). It is issued every year, in four different face values, sizes and weights. It is used as an investment product, although it finishes almost always in the hands of collectors. According to the
World Gold Council
The World Gold Council is the market development organisation for the gold industry. It works across all parts of the industry, from gold mining to investment, with the aim of stimulating and sustaining demand for gold.
They frequently publish ...
, this coin was the best selling gold coin in 1992, 1995 and 1996 worldwide.
In 2006
Austrian Airlines
Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its hub ...
was outfitted with a livery featuring the gold coin and logo of the Wiener Philharmoniker. The long-range
Airbus A340
The Airbus A340 is a long-range, wide-body passenger airliner that was developed and produced by Airbus.
In the mid-1970s, Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner, and developed the A340 quadjet in parallel with ...
aircraft was flown primarily between Vienna and Tokyo for approximately one year serving as promotional tool for the orchestra and the Philharmoniker, 24 karat gold coin issued by the
Austrian Mint
The Austrian Mint (german: Münze Österreich) is located in Vienna and is responsible for minting Austrian coins. Since 1989 it has been a public limited company (''Aktiengesellschaft'') and a subsidiary of Austria's central bank Oesterreichische ...
.
The orchestra has had an annual ball called the Vienna Philharmonic Ball since 1924, when
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
began his conducting association.
Business structure
The Vienna Philharmonic operates under what it calls "Democratic Self-Administration". Whereas many orchestras are run under a more corporate model with musicians as labor that works for the orchestra management, the ruling body of the Vienna Philharmonic organization is the full orchestra membership. Day-to-day decisions are delegated to the twelve elected members of the administrative committee.
Sound, instruments, and playing style
The Vienna Philharmonic was already observed to have a characteristic sound by the turn of the last century.
David Hurwitz notes that
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...
told an interviewer on Austrian Radio in 1960 that hearing the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time in 1897 was for Walter (in Hurwitz's translation): "...a life-altering impression, because it was this sound of the orchestra that I have experienced ever since – I have the feeling: this is the way an orchestra should sound; the way it should play. I had never heard the beauty, this calmness of the sound, that sort of glissando, the manner of vibrato, the string sound, the blend of woodwinds with the strings, with the brass, the balance of the brass in combination with the percussion contributing together to the overall sonority of the orchestra. For me, this impression was definitive, and now I would like to anticipate a point and tell you this: this sound, 1897, is the same today.".
The VPO's sound has been attributed in part to the VPO's instruments and in part to its playing styles.
Instruments: At least a part of the characteristic sound of the Vienna Philharmonic has been attributed to the use of instruments that differ from those used by other major orchestras:
* The orchestra's
standard tuning
In music, standard tuning refers to the typical Musical tuning, tuning of a string instrument. This notion is contrary to that of scordatura, i.e. an alternate tuning designated to modify either the timbre or technical capabilities of the desired i ...
pitch is
A4=443
Hz; the tuning standard for A
4 is generally considered at a frequency of
440 Hz
A440 (also known as Stuttgart pitch) is the musical pitch corresponding to an audio frequency of 440 Hz, which serves as a tuning standard for the musical note of A above middle C, or A4 in scientific pitch notation. It is standardized by the ...
.
* The VPO uses the German-system (
Öhler system)
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
. By comparison, the
Boehm-system clarinet is favored in non-German-speaking countries.
* Likewise, while the
Heckel bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuo ...
is now the norm for most orchestras around the world, in the VPO the Heckel bassoon is played almost completely without
vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
.
* The
rotary-valve trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
is used, but unlike most other Germanic orchestras the VPO prefers smaller bore rotary trumpets from makers such as Heckel and Lechner.
* Like its counterparts elsewhere in Austria, Germany and Russia, the VPO favors the F bass and B-flat contrabass rotary-valve
tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
, whereas the CC piston-valve tuba is preferred in most American and some British orchestras.
* The
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
has a somewhat smaller bore, but this is also true of the trombone used in many German orchestras.
* The
timpani
Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...
have the Schnellar System in which the kettle pushed up as opposed to the head being pulled down. Hans Schnellar was the timpanist in the early 20th century, and personally made these drums. They also use goat skin heads as opposed to calf skin or plastic heads, and manual tuning as opposed to pedal tuning.
* The
double bass
The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...
retains the traditional theater-placement in a row behind the brass. The VPO uses 4- as well as 5-string double basses. The bow is held in a variation of the
German bow grip, in which the index and middle fingers are held above the stick so that only they (and not the thumb) apply pressure to the string.
* The
Wiener oboe
The Akademiemodel Wiener Oboe, commonly referred to as the Wiener Oboe or Viennese oboe, is a type of modern oboe first developed in the 1880s by Josef Hajek. The design of the Wiener Oboe retains the essential bore and tonal characteristics of the ...
is, along with the Vienna horn (see below), perhaps the most distinctive member of the VPO instrumentarium. It has a special bore, reed and fingering-system and is very different from the otherwise internationally used Conservatoire (French) oboe.
* The
Vienna horn
The Vienna horn (german: Wiener Horn) is a type of musical horn used primarily in Vienna, Austria, for playing orchestral or classical music. It is used throughout Vienna, including the Vienna Philharmonic
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: ...
in F uses a ''Pumpenventil''. Unlike the rotary valves used on most other orchestral horns, the Pumpenventil contributes to the liquid legato that is one of the trademarks of the Viennese school. The bore of the Vienna horn is also smaller than more modern horns—actually very close to that of the valveless
natural horn
The natural horn is a musical instrument that is the predecessor to the modern-day (French) horn (differentiated by its lack of valves). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth century the natural horn evolved as a separation from the trump ...
. The Vienna horn has remained virtually unchanged since the mid-nineteenth century—as a result it is arguably well-suited to the Classical and Romantic repertoire at the core of the VPO's programming.
On the other hand, at least two instruments or instrument families are like those in other orchestras. According to the Vienna Philharmonic's website, "the flute is largely the same as the conventional Böhm flute, which is widely used all over the world. However, it did not replace the wooden flute in Vienna until the 1920s." Also, the Viennese string sound should not be attributed to unique attributes of the instruments, according to the VPO, which writes on its website, "There can be no doubt that the Viennese string instruments themselves, unlike the winds, are not of prime importance in producing the orchestra's unique sound. With a few exceptions, the quality of the instruments of the string section is not particularly outstanding.".
To be sure, the instruments are of high quality; Austria's central bank
Oesterreichische Nationalbank
The Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB) is the central bank of Austria and, as such, an integral part of both the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and the Eurozone. It started operations on , replacing the Austro-Hungarian Bank of which ...
currently loans four
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
s made by
Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, ''Stradivarius'', as well as the colloq ...
to the VPO.
The VPO's instruments and their characteristic tone-colors have been the subject of extensive scientific studies by
Gregor Widholm and others at the Institute of Music Acoustics (''Wiener Klangstil'' – Viennese Tone Style) at the
University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna
The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817.
With a student body of over three thousa ...
. The Vienna Philharmonic's website generalizes about its woodwind and brass instruments in terms of overtones: "With the exception of the flute and, to some extent, the bassoon, the typical differences in tone of Viennese instruments can be described as follows: They are richer in overtones, i.e., the sound tone is brighter."
Playing style: The orchestra in 2004 began offering a summer institute, the International Orchestra Institute Attergau for Wiener Klangstil, to instruct other musicians in the Viennese playing style.
[James R. Oestrich]
"Even Legends Adjust To Time and Trend, Even the Vienna Philharmonic"
''The New York Times'', 28 February 1998
Hurwitz notes that the 1960 Walter interview indicates that the strings' vibrato (as of 1960) was audibly like that of 1897, and also quotes music critic Richard Specht in 1919 writing of "something inimitable in the vibrato and the passionate virtuosity of the violins" of the Vienna Philharmonic.
As for other instruments, using early recordings, the musicologist Robert Philip has documented some changes in how VPO players used
vibrato
Vibrato (Italian language, Italian, from past participle of "wikt:vibrare, vibrare", to vibrate) is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch (music), pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. ...
during the mid-20th century, although he also notes differences between the VPO and other orchestras of the era. As was typical of the era, the pre-1945 flutes show "very little vibrato" in recordings "until after World War II... even in the long solo in Mahler's ''Das Lied von der Erde'' the flautist [under
Bruno Walter
Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a German-born conductor, pianist and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French citizen in 1938, and settled in the Un ...
in 1936]... plays almost without vibrato" except on "a few long notes [with] a delicate medium-speed vibrato"; but "by the late 1940s the flautists... had adopted a gentle medium-speed vibrato". The oboes before the 1940s show "little or no vibrato," but by the late 1940s "the principal oboist had adopted a very delicate fast vibrato ... but he uses it very sparingly." (The
cor anglais
The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn in North America, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto ...
is, he notes, even in the late 1940s still played "without any vibrato"). The bassoonists "show virtually no bassoon vibrato up to the 1950s".
The Vienna Philharmonic website states that today, with the flute, "as with all
ind
Ind or IND may refer to:
General
* Independent (politician), a politician not affiliated to any political party
* Independent station, used within television program listings and the television industry for a station that is not affiliated with ...
instruments in the Viennese classics, vibrato is used very sparingly."
Philips notes that by 1931 the Vienna Philharmonic strings were reported to use uniform bowing, which was still unusual in Britain. As for
portamento
In music, portamento (plural: ''portamenti'', from old it, portamento, meaning "carriage" or "carrying") is a pitch sliding from one note to another. The term originated from the Italian expression "''portamento della voce''" ("carriage of the v ...
– sliding audibly from one note to another, a prominent effect among pre-war string players – the VPO strings' sliding in the early 1930s "sounds more deliberately expressive, and less a matter of routine, than that of British orchestras. This is partly because of the firmer dynamic shaping of the melodic line, partly because of the warmer and fuller string tone." Further, he hears "strong evidence of a free approach to portamento" – that is, of "different players shifting at different points" within the same phrase (which, he shows, was standard internationally in pre-war orchestral playing). He notices a reduced use of portamento in recordings from 1931 to 1936, but in 1936 also notes that the VPO strings still make "conspicuous" use of portamento in Mozart, where British orchestras by this time were using less of it in Classical-era composers. Finally, he hears a "trend towards greater subtlety in the use of portamento" post-war, with "only discreet portamento" in a recording under
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan (; born Heribert Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, wit ...
in 1949. One useful indication of approaches to vibrato and portamento is the body of recordings left by concertmaster Arnold Rose and his quartet. While not identical in approach to the earlier German playing of Joseph Joachim, they are notably free from the vibrato that became routine in mid 20th-century, and of an older style both in rhythm and use of slides. (E.g., Beethoven Op 131 and the 5th Brahms Hungarian Dance.)
Controversies
Orchestral membership of women and non-European ethnicities
The Vienna Philharmonic did not accept
female musicians to permanent membership until 1997, far later than comparable orchestras (of the other orchestras ranked among the world's top five by ''Gramophone'' magazine in 2008,
the last to appoint a woman to a permanent position was the
Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
, which did so in 1982.) As late as February 1996, first flutist
Dieter Flury
Dieter Flury is a Swiss flutist who was the principal flute of the Vienna Philharmonic from 1981 to 2017. He also served as the orchestra's managing director from 2005 to 2014.
Early life
Flury studied with Hans Meyer and André Jaunet at the Zur ...
told
Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...
that accepting women would be "gambling with the emotional unity () that this organism currently has".
[Westdeutscher Rundfunk Radio 5, "Musikalische Misogynie", 13 February 1996]
transcribed by Regina Himmelbauer
/ref> In April 1996, the orchestra's press secretary wrote that "compensating for the expected leaves of absence" of maternity leave was a problem that they "do not yet see how to get a grip on" in ongoing consultations with the Women's Ministry of the Austrian Republic about women in the orchestra.
In February 1997, Austrian Chancellor Viktor Klima
Viktor Klima (born 4 June 1947) is an Austrian Social Democrat politician and businessman. He was chancellor of Austria from 1997 to 2000.
Early career
Born in Schwechat, Lower Austria, Klima started working for the then state-owned OMV oil com ...
told the orchestra "at an awards ceremony that there was 'creative potential in the other half of humanity and this should be used.'"[Jane Perlez]
"Vienna Philharmonic Lets Women Join in Harmony”
''The New York Times'', 28 February 1997 The orchestra, wrote ''The New York Times,'' was "facing protests during a Stour" by the National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women (NOW) is an American feminist organization. Founded in 1966, it is legally a 501(c)(4) social welfare organization. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S. states and in Washington, D.C. It ...
and International Alliance for Women in Music. Finally, "after being held up to increasing ridicule even in socially conservative Austria, members of the orchestra gathered n 28 February 1997in an extraordinary meeting on the eve of their departure and agreed to admit a woman, Anna Lelkes, as harpist." According to Lelkes, who had played as an adjunct with the orchestra since 1974, the orchestra was "terribly frightened by the possibility of demonstrations by American women's rights activists. I believe that this pressure was decisive"; she adds that the orchestra voted to accept her not unanimously but "by a large majority", and that the vote showed generational differences, with retired members voting against her but "quite a few ounger playersgot together and even got organized and said this can't go on any longer. The younger generation stood up for me..."
As of 2013, the orchestra had six female members; one of them, violinist Albena Danailova became one of the orchestra's concertmaster
The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...
s in 2008, the first woman to hold that position. In January 2005, Australian conductor Simone Young
Simone Margaret Young AM (born 2 March 1961) is an Australian conductor. She is currently chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
Biography and career
Young was born in Sydney, of Irish ancestry on her father's side and Croatian ...
became the first woman to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic. In late December 2012, the issue of gender balance remained a concern in Austria: Austrian Radio ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the ...
noted that women still made up just 6% of the orchestra's membership, compared to 14% in the Berlin Philharmonic, 30% in the London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
, and 36% in the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
; it acknowledged progress but raised concerns that it was too slow. On the other hand, it quoted VPO president Clemens Hellsberg as saying that the VPO now uses completely blind audition In a blind audition the identity of the performer is concealed from the judges so as to prevent bias. The performance takes place behind a curtain so that the judges cannot see the performer. Blind auditions have become standard in symphony orchestr ...
s, simply chooses "the best we get", implying that full gender equity would take time as older members retire and new ones audition under gender-neutral conditions. (The Vienna Philharmonic will hire no musician over 35 years of age, and has a mandatory retirement age of 65; 30 years of service are required to receive a full pension.) As of December 2019, there were 15 female members.
There have also been claims that the orchestra has not always accepted members who are visibly members of ethnic minorities.["The Image of Purity: The Racial Ideology of the Vienna Philharmonic In Historical Perspective"]
by William Osborne In 1970, Otto Strasser, the former chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic, wrote in his memoirs, "I hold it incorrect that today the applicants play behind a screen; an arrangement that was brought in after the Second World War in order to assure objective judgments. I continuously fought against it... because I am convinced that to the artist also belongs the person, that one must not only hear, but also see, in order to judge him in his entire personality. ..Even a grotesque situation that played itself out after my retirement was not able to change the situation. An applicant qualified himself as the best, and as the screen was raised, there stood a Japanese before the stunned jury. He was, however, not engaged, because his face did not fit with the ''Pizzicato-Polka'' of the New Year's Concert." In 1996, flautist Flury still expressed the view that "The soul does not let itself be separated from the cultural roots that we have here in central Europe."
In 2001 a violinist who was half-Asian became a member. The full list of musicians, men and women, including those playing with the Vienna Philharmonic but who are not members of the VPO association, is accessible on the website of the Vienna Philharmonic.
Period under National Socialism
The Vienna Philharmonic was for decades accused of withholding or suppressing information about its connections in the mid-20th century to the Nazi Party
The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...
. The first orchestral representative to discuss the issue was Clemens Hellsberg (also trained as a musicologist), when he wrote the orchestra's official sesquicentennial history, ''Demokratie der Könige'' ''(Democracy of Kings)''. In it he determined that at the end of World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
47% of orchestra members belonged to the Nazi Party or affiliates (the total number is now known to be 49%, 60 for 123 in 1942), that upon the Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
thirteen Jewish players were fired, that six of them were murdered (the number is now known to be seven), and "that the VPO once gave a concert in an SS barracks." But more remained to be investigated and made public, and access to relevant material in the orchestra's archives was highly restricted. Hellsberg, who became the orchestra's president in 1997, did not have full access to the archives until 2000/2001, and the historian Fritz Trümpi reports that when he began researching the orchestra's Third Reich activities in 2003 and requested access, he "was rebuffed by the management of the orchestra with a firm 'no' ... the idea that external researchers could come and root around in their archive was long considered taboo."[Fritz Trümpi]
"The Vienna Philharmonic's Nazi past: lifting the veil of deliberate ignorance"
''The Guardian'', 17 March 2013 Trümpi was granted access in 2007, but other researchers reported continued exclusion, such as Bernadette Mayrhoffer in 2008; the Austrian newspaper ''Die Presse
''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria.
History and profile
''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...
'' reported in 2008 (in Sebastian Huebel's summary) that "scholars have had difficulties investigating the Vienna Philharmonic as they were not allowed access to the archives, or sources were delivered reluctantly and with timely delays."
The 2013 New Year's Day concert evoked critical discussion of the issue in the Austrian press and from Austrian parliamentarian Harald Walser. Shortly thereafter, Hellsberg commissioned an independent panel of three historians – Trümpi, his dissertation adviser Oliver Rathkolb
Oliver Rathkolb (born 3 November 1955 in Vienna) is an Austrian historian and professor for contemporary history at the University of Vienna.
Career
Rathkolb studied history and law at the University of Vienna and achieved his doctorate in 198 ...
(a professor at the University of Vienna
The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich histor ...
), and Bernadette Mayrhofer – to fully investigate the orchestra's Third Reich activities and "in the spirit of transparency" (according to the orchestra's Facebook feed) publish the results on the orchestra's website. The panel was given unrestricted access to the archives. Rathkolb told an interviewer, "We were able to find new documents in a cellar, which normally contained archived music. It was an orchestra member who directed us to it."
On 10 March 2013—a date chosen to precede 12 March, the 75th anniversary of the Third Reich's union with Austria, the Anschluss—the panel published its findings in a set of reports posted on the orchestra's website. Among the panel's findings are:
* Before the Anschluss in the mid-1930s, 20% of the members of the orchestra belonged to the Nazi party. Former Vienna State Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...
Secretary-General Ioan Holender
Ioan Holender (born Johann Hollaender, he, יואן הולנדר, born 18 July 1935) is a Romanian born Austrian opera baritone and administrator.
Holender was born in Timișoara, Romania. His family is of Jewish ancestry, and growing up, he s ...
notes that these members joined out of conviction, rather than for professional advancement, since party membership was illegal in Austria at the time.
* By the orchestra's centennial in 1942, 60 of the 123 active ienna Philharmonicorchestral musicians had become members of the azi Party
''Azi'' (''Today'' in Romanian language, Romanian) is a Romanian daily newspaper published in Bucharest. The paper was started in 1990.
Today was also the name of a literary magazine published monthly in Romania, from March 1932 to August 1938, ...
– that is, 48.8%. Two were members of the SS. By contrast, in the other major German-speaking orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic
The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world.
History
The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...
, barely 20% were party members. For further comparison, party membership in Austria as a whole was 10%.
* The thirteen Jewish members of the orchestra were expelled by the National Socialists upon the Anschluss. Six of them escaped into exile; the other seven were killed – five in concentration camps, and two while still in Vienna as a direct result of attempted deportation and persecution.
* Rathkolb writes, "A total of nine orchestra members were driven into exile ncluding the six Jewish members noted above... The eleven remaining orchestra members who were married to Jewish women or stigmatized as 'half-Jewish' lived under the constant threat of revocation of their 'special permission.' ... It was only the intervention of Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
and other individuals which ... with two exceptions, saved hese 11 remaining'half-Jews' and 'related' from dismissal from the Vienna State Opera Orchestra."
* Of the musicians hired to replace the 13 dismissed Jewish members, about half were Nazi Party members, Rathkolb says.
* The panel revealed in new detail how the New Year's concerts began during the Nazi era. The first concert, given on New Year's Eve in 1939, was proposed by conductor Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, the ...
and enthusiastically approved by Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels
Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 19 ...
because it served the Reich's purposes of "propaganda through entertainment."["Denn erstens ist es noch nicht erwiesen, und zweitens habe ich keine Lust, den ganzen deutschen Kulturbesitz so nach und nach unterhöhlen zu lassen." In Oliver Rathkolb]
"Vom Johann-Strauß-Konzert 1939 zum Neujahrskonzert 1946"
(The concert was moved to New Year's Day for the concerts held from 1941 to 1945; it was revived in 1947 when it was conducted by Josef Krips
Josef Alois Krips (8 April 1902 – 13 October 1974) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.
Life and career
Krips was born in Vienna. His father was Josef Jakob Krips, a medical doctor and amateur singer, and his mother was Aloisia, née Seit ...
, who had not been able to conduct during the war years because he was half-Jewish.) Further, the profits from the 1939 concert were "donated entirely to the national-socialistic fund-raising campaign 'Kriegswinterhilfswerk' The reports also note that Goebbels privately decided to ignore information about the partial Jewish ancestry of the Strauss family (Johann Strauss I
Johann Baptist Strauss I (; also Johann Strauss Sr., the Elder, the Father; 14 March 1804 – 25 September 1849) was an Austrian composer of the Romantic music, Romantic Period. He was famous for his light music, namely waltzes, polkas, and galo ...
's grandfather was Jewish by birth) partly because "it was not proven" and partly because he did "not want to undermine the entire German cultural heritage."
* At the war's end in 1945, the orchestra expelled ten of its members for Nazi activity; two were re-hired in ensuing years. One of them, the trumpeter Helmut Wobisch, had joined the Nazi Party in 1933 and the SS in 1934 and served as a spy for the Gestapo
The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe.
The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...
during the war. He was rehired by the orchestra in 1950 and appointed executive director of the orchestra in 1953, remaining in that position until 1967.
* The panel determined that it was Wobisch who in 1966 privately gave a replacement copy of the orchestra's "ring of honor" to Baldur von Schirach after the latter's release from Spandau Prison. As a result of the panel's reports, the Carinthian Summer Festival in Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...
, Austria, cancelled its annual concert in honor of Wobisch (who was co-founder of the festival).
* The panel details how the orchestra gave "a great number of honorific awards… to Nazi potentates, including Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart (German: Seyß-Inquart, ; 22 July 1892 16 October 1946) was an Austrian Austrian National Socialism, Nazi politician who served as Chancellor of Austria in 1938 for two days before the ''Anschluss''. His positions in Nazi Ge ...
and Baldur von Schirach
Baldur Benedikt von Schirach (9 May 1907 – 8 August 1974) was a German politician who is best known for his role as the Nazi Party national youth leader and head of the Hitler Youth from 1931 to 1940. He later served as ''Gauleiter'' and ''Re ...
ho was sentenced to 20 years in Spandau Prison for his">Spandau_Prison.html" ;"title="ho was sentenced to 20 years in Spandau Prison">ho was sentenced to 20 years in Spandau Prison for his" The orchestra also planned internally to give its highest award (the Nicolai Gold Medal) to Adolf Hitler in 1942, but there is no evidence that this award was ever given.[Oliver Rathkolb]
"Ehrungen und Auszeichnungen (Ehrenmitglieder, Ehrenring, Nicolai-Medaille und die 'gelbe' Liste)"
part 1 (Rathkolb has told the press that Hellsberg "has asked he orchestrato revoke the rings of honour to these people.")[Luke Harding and Louise Osborne]
"Vienna Philharmonic and the Jewish musicians who perished under Hitler"
''The Guardian'', 11 March 2013
At its annual meeting on 23 October 2013, the orchestra voted to revoke all the honors bestowed to Nazi officials; the members voted after hearing a presentation by Rathkolb of the panel's findings.James R. Oestreich
James Ruben Oestreich (born 1943) is a classical music critic for ''The New York Times'', where he has written about music since 1989. He grew up in Wisconsin.
Career
Oestreich has held earlier posts as music critic at ''American Record Guide'' ...
"Vienna Philharmonic Revokes Nazi Honors"
''The New York Times'', 22 December 2013 Clemens Helmsberg is quoted in the New York Times as saying that after Rathkolb's presentation, the orchestra needed no further discussion before revoking the honors since "it was such an obvious thing."
Subscription conductors (1842–1933)
The Vienna Philharmonic has never had principal conductors. Each year they chose an artist to conduct all concerts of the respective season at Vienna's Musikverein
The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra.
The acoustics of the building's 'Great ...
. These conductors were called ''Abonnementdirigenten'' (''subscription conductors'') as they were to conduct all the concerts included in the Philharmonic's subscription at the Musikverein. Some of these annual hirings were renewed for many years, others lasted only for a few years. At the same time the Vienna Philharmonic also worked with other conductors, e. g. at the Salzburg Festival, for recordings or special occasions. With the widening of the Philharmonic's activities the orchestra decided to abandon this system in 1933. From then on there were only guest conductors hired for each concert, both in Vienna and elsewhere.
* Otto Nicolai
Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (9 June 1810 – 11 May 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and one of the founders of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy ''The Merry Wives of Wi ...
(1842–1848)
* Karl Anton Eckert
Karl Anton Florian Eckert (17 December 1820 – 14 October 1879) was a German conductor and composer.
Life
Eckert was born in Berlin. By the age of five, had already proved himself as a musical child prodigy. After coming to the attention of Si ...
(1854–1857)
* Otto Dessoff
Felix Otto Dessoff (14 January 1835 – 28 October 1892) was a German conductor and composer.
Biography
Dessoff was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig; his father was a cloth merchant. His musical talent was recognized by Franz Liszt, who then ...
(1860–1875)
* Hans Richter (1875–1882)
* Wilhelm Jahn
Wilhelm Jahn (24 November 1835 in Dvorce (Bruntál District), Dvorce – 21 April 1900 in Vienna) was an Austrians, Austrian conducting, conductor.
Life
Jahn served as director of the Vienna State Opera, Vienna Court Opera from 1880 to 1897 and ...
(1882–1883)
* Hans Richter (1883–1898)
* Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
(1898–1901)
* Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.
Joseph Heinrich Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (9 April 1855 – 26 April 1907), also known as Pepi Hellmesberger, was an Austrian composer, violinist and Conducting, conductor.
Biography
Hellmesberger was born in Vienna and was the son of violinis ...
(1901–1903)
* Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg (2 June 1863 – 7 May 1942) was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.
Life and career
Weingartner was born in Zara, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary (now Zadar, Croatia), to Austrian parents. T ...
(1908–1927)
* Wilhelm Furtwängler
Gustav Heinrich Ernst Martin Wilhelm Furtwängler ( , , ; 25 January 188630 November 1954) was a German conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest symphonic and operatic conductors of the 20th century. He was a major ...
(1927–1930)
* Clemens Krauss
Clemens Heinrich Krauss (31 March 189316 May 1954) was an Austrian conductor and opera impresario, particularly associated with the music of Richard Strauss, Johann Strauss and Richard Wagner.
Krauss was born in Vienna to Clementine Krauss, the ...
(1930–1933)
Recordings
See also
* Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn
Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn (german: Sommernachtskonzert) is an annual free entry outdoor concert in Vienna held by the Vienna Philharmonic. The venue for the concert is the Schönbrunn Palace. It has telecast on PBS in the United States as ...
- Annual concert conducted by the Vienna Philharmonic
References
External links
Vienna Philharmonic website
Musikverein website
Vienna Philharmonic
*
*
*
VPO Watch website of the International Alliance for Women in Music
Details of all the orchestra's subscription concerts 1860–1898
Free recordings
at International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
{{Authority control
1842 establishments in the Austrian Empire
Musical groups established in 1842
Arts organizations established in the 1840s
Deutsche Grammophon artists
Herbert von Karajan Music Prize winners
Music & Arts artists
Erato Records artists